Hi Khushi!

Since you're aiming at IIM-Bangalore, I'll assume that you have stellar academics and that you have already planned on scoring high in the CAT examination. Since you have not mentioned the category you belong to, I'll assume that you fall in the general category and provide you the data accordingly.

Each IIMs have their own admission criteria and vary accordingly, and the weight given to CAT percentile and work experience is also different. Some colleges like IIM Bangalore depend heavily on your academics and slightly on work experience ( I'm assuming you have work ex), but other IIMs like IIM-Calcutta go easy on the academics and weigh heavily on the CAT and this becomes your hunting ground. Thus, it becomes important for you to jot down the IIMs you are eligible for and aim for the particular CAT score accordingly. We'll just stick to IIm-Bangalore for now.

Your degree also matters a lot here. Your arts degree fetches you additional marks while getting calls and also while converting the call during final admission. Again, the amount of weight given varies accordingly. But if you're an engineering grad, you may have a backfoot.

Since nothing can be done about the academic score right now, it becomes rather important for you to score as high as possible in your CAT exam. Assuming you get somewhere around 95-98 percentile and you have a great academic background ( Read 90-90-85) with at least 2-3 years work experience ( which is not mandatory), there is a very high chance of you securing a seat given that you do your PI-WAT very well.

Here's how the work experience is calculated. X is your work experience in months.

=(8*X)/36 if 0<X<36

= 8 if X>=36
So, it's pretty clear that while shortlisting or getting a call you get more points if you have more work experience.

The weight for work experience becomes 10 while considering it for admission in the final level after WAT/PI.

Good luck belling the CAT! Feel free to drop in your queries.

Find out about IIM admission criteria here - https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/iim-admission-criteria

Hello Khushi

Work experience is not compulsory for admissions in IIM but the authorities give some weightage to them while making the selections. So if you are getting any opportunity of working with any company or anywhere and go for it. You will earn some experience which can increase your chances of selection.

Try to work in the field of your interest from any start up or recognised company. There's no definitive answer to which jobs are categorised as work experience.

Revert for further assistance.

Thanks for contacting us.